Gas-engine



3 Sheets Sheet 1.

(No'Moael.) v

' C. W. BALDWIN'.

GAS ENGINE.'

-Patented Aug. 13, 1889.

N. PETER; Pmmihogmpher, wnhingwn. D. C.

` 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

G. W. BALDWIN. y GAS ENGINE. No. 408,683. Patented Aug. 13, 1889.

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C. W.BALDWIN.

3 Sheets-Sheet V3.

(No Model.)

GAS ENGINE.

N0. 408,683. Patented Aug. 1s, 1889.

UNITEDA STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OYRUS WV. BALDVIN, OF YONKRS, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO VILLIAM E. HALE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

V'GAS-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part OfLetters Patent No. 408,683, dated August 13, 1889. Application filed March l, 1888. Serial No. 265,841. (No model.)

T all whom it may con/cern;

Be it known that I, OYRUs W. BALDWIN, a'

citizen of the United States, residing at Yonkers, in the county of Westchester, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-Engines, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention consists in certain improveto` ments in gas-engines, whereby the construction of the same is simplified and the effect-V 5 is a detached sectional View,enlarged,illusv trating the construction. of the electrical ignitor.

The general features of the engine illustrated in the drawings are substantially similar to those set forth vin Letters Patent granted to me on the 16th day of August,

1387, No. 368,445, and I refer to the latter for description of the construction and operation of such features as are not directly connected with the hereinafter-described improvements. The cylinder G of the engine, which is mounted upon a hollow bed A, contains the reciprocating piston D, and is provided with 3 5 a central exhaust-port 3,' which is uncovered as the piston reaches its forward position and is closed by the piston as it moves backward, while the forward end of the cylinder, in connection with the piston, constitutes an air- 4o pump, the air being drawn by the backward movement of the piston into a reservoir I, inclosed within a valve-casing J, and in a chamber 10 beneath the cylinder and in a communicating pipe 90.

To prevent injury that :results from the passage of the gaseous contents from the explosion end of the cylinder around or past the piston to the air-pump end of the cylinder, which will result in case of improper 5o fitting or loose packing of the piston, I provide the latter with a. wide peripheral channel or chamber a, as best shown in Fig. 1. The parts beyond the chamber are packed as usual, and the'said chamber communicates with the exhaust 3 as the piston moves over 55 vthe latter, and any of the gaseous mixture which may leak around the packing will be received into the chamber a and will pass to the exhaust and cannot iind its way to the air-receiving end of the cylinder. 6o

The valve-casing J, instead of having twovalve-plates, as in the engine described'in my aforesaid patent, has a single valve-plate 2l, tothe upper portion of which are bolted the air and the mixture casings or receptacles 8 65 80, while a chest 9, in which the air Aand gas are mixed, and provided with the transverse perforated gas-tube 16 and inlet-nozzle 49, is bolted directly to the underside of said plate 21, and an opening l22 in the plate 21 consti- 7o tutes a communication between the interior of the chest 9 and that portion of the' casing containing the valve 18, which rests upon the plate 21, as does also the valve 13, covering the ports 12. This simplifies and cheapens the construction of the valve devices of the engine.

To regulate the iiow of air into the reservoir under the pumping action of the piston,

I vary the pressure upon the inlet-valve 13 8o by changing the tension upon a spring 19, bearing upon such valve. Thus a screw 20, passing through a threaded opening in the top ofthe valve-casing, is provided with a disk bearing upon the top of the spring 19, and 8 5 by turning said screw the spring maybemore or less compressed.

As in the engine described in my aforesaid patent, both the quantity and the quality of the gaseous mixture are varied in the engine 9o constituting the subject of the present application, the quantity o f the mixture being varied by the movements of a wedge 34, connected with a rod 42, the position of which is varied by the action of a governor.

-Instead of the valve-cock described in my aforesaid patent for regulating the quality of the mixture, I have devised a less complicated Valve arrangement. (Best illustrated in Fig. 2.) The said valve device K consists of a valve- 1 co cylinder 36, having a gas-inlet port 37, com municating with the gas-inlet pipe 38, and also an outlet-port 39, communicating through a pipe 40 with the gas-inlet channel 16 of the gas-reservoir. In the cylinder 36 slides the valve 41, which normally occupies a position away from the port 37, during which time the uniform mixture passes in regulated quantities to the reservoir and to the cylinder; but when the resistance is thrown off the engine and the governor moves the rod 42 in the direction of the arrow the valve 41 is caused to cover the port 37 to a greater or less extent, correspondingly varying the proportion of gas in the mixture. By arranging the valve 41 upon the rod 42, that controls the movelneuts of the wedge 34, I greatly simplify the construction of the regulating apparatus.

Instead of breaking the electric circuit by means of a linger upon the piston-head contacting with one of two terminals within the cylinder, I use the construction best illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5. Both terminals are carried bya screw-plug 70, projecting into the cylinder through an opening in the cylinder-head C and carrying a yoke o1' bearing 63, which constitutes one of the terminals. The other terminal is a rod 163, which slides in but is insulated from the plug 70, and is normally maintained in contact with the yoke 63 by the action of a spring arranged outside of the cylinder, so as not to be affected by the heat of the gas therein. Different spring arrangements as well as different means for reciprocating the rod 163 may be employed. Thus a lever 61, hung to a bracket on the outside of the cylinder-head, is forked to embrace a grooved nut 90, adjustable upon the rod 163, and a spring 62 bears upon a link inclosing the lever and tends to draw it toward the cylinder-head. A rod 61 slides through a packed Opening in the cylinder-head in position to contact with the piston and to bear upon the lever 61, so that as the piston strikes the rod 91 the lever 61 is swung outward, carrying with it the electrode 163 and breaking the contact between the electrodes within the cylinder, and when the cylinder moves forward the spring 62 carries inward the electrode 163 until the two electrodes are again in contact. By this arrangement all the operating parts are exposed to the view of the attendant, and he can at once determine whether or not the contacts are being properly made and broken.

It will of course be evident that various arrangements of devices may be employed for communicating motion from the sliding rod 91 to the movable electrode.

IVit-hout limiting myself to the construction and arrangement of parts shown, I claim- 1. The valve casing of a gas-engine, provided with a single valve-plate covered by two casings for the air andthe air and gas mixture, with a valve upon the upper side within each casing, a casing below the said plate containing the mixing-chamber, and a port in the plate between the latter chamber and the air-chamber, substantially as set forth.

2. The colnbination, in a gas-engine, of a rod 42, connected with the regulating-wedge 34 and with the governor, and avalve 41, carried by said rod, and a valve-case containing said valve and provided with gas inlet and outlet ports, substantially as set forth.

The combination, with the cylinder and electrodes of a gas-engine having their contacting ends within the cylinder, of a rod independent of the electrodes sliding in the cylinder-head in position to contact with the piston and connected by connections outside the cylinder with the movable electrode, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the cylinder of a gas-engine, of a plug extending into the explosion-chalnber and carrying a yoke or bearing constituting one of the electrodes, and a rod constituting the other electrode sliding in insulated bearings in the plug, and movable connections between the rod and the piston, whereby the rod is moved by the action of the piston in one direction, and a spring for moving the rod in the opposite direction, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CYRUS WV. BALD\VIN.

Vitnesses:

WM. RILEY, WILLIAM S. HALEY. 

